


To Learn to Love

by Angsty_dude



Category: Dragon Quest Series, Dragon Quest XI
Genre: Bittersweet, Falling In Love, M/M, Tags Are Hard, Valentine's Day
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-14
Updated: 2021-02-14
Packaged: 2021-03-15 20:34:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,559
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29441961
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Angsty_dude/pseuds/Angsty_dude
Summary: A young Hendrik and Jasper discuss the matter of love
Relationships: Graig | Hendrik/Homer | Jasper (Dragon Quest XI)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 9





	To Learn to Love

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Valentine's day!! I present more of my endless Hendrik and Co. brainrot.

The Kingdom of Heliodor was unusually busy for the season, guards and soldiers bustling through the castle’s corridors. The air outside was still chilly from the fading winter, the sun just starting to return with its glorious warmth, washing away the lingering cold with a warm gold. The air inside the castle was filled with an excited hum as the halls were decorated with bright shades of various pinks and reds. Two young knights watched as superiors flanked the corridors, their faces bright with youth. Nearly the same heights, they stood side by side, watching over the chaos that was Heliodor’s halls. The taller, a young man whose face was still rounded by youth, watched in a mixture of awe and confusion. He was new to Heliodor by just a few years, brought to the kingdom upon his home’s, Zwaardsrust, destruction. He had grown accustomed to his new home by now, long having familiarized with the majority of its customs and traditions, even embracing some of them. This one, however, managed to baffle him. He turned to the boy who stood beside him, looking at the blond whose long hair and ponytail barely stretched past his shoulder blades, turquoise eyes brimming with his childlike curiosity, “Jasper? What are they doing?”

The boy beside him looked away from the box of decorations sitting nearby, and to the other, golden eyes meeting his for just a moment, “Putting up Saint Valentine's day decorations. You know, the day of love. Didn’t you have that in Zwaardsrust?”

The taller looked around again, purple hair draping to his shoulders as he glanced, “Of course I did! Just… Nothing like this. Do you not have festivals?”

“No, not really.” Jasper, as the other called him, replied, setting a hand on his chin thoughtfully, “Quite frankly, we rarely do anything for holidays… At least not in the castle. Though with Her Majesty's passing, King Carnelian did say something about wanting to make things a little livelier for the princess. I guess this is what he had in mind.”

“Princess Jade? She can’t even walk yet, can she?”

Jasper shrugged, “Don’t look at me, Hendrik, I know as little as you do. All I know is that all this… mess, is for her.” he scoffed, “A waste of time if you ask me.”

Hendrik started to open his mouth, a question dancing on his tongue-tip, stopping however at approaching footsteps. Both boys looked up when a soldier approached them, the man nearly towering over them as he presented them a box, “If you two are just going to stand here, you might as well do something. The east corridor is looking a little empty, why don’t you help with the decorating?”

Jasper quickly side-stepped so that the box would be thrust into Hendrik’s arms instead of his own, leaving the purple-haired boy to do the grunt work. Though both scoffed, they were not about to disobey an order, setting off to do what was asked of them. Together they ventured down the hall, Hendrik looking down at the box full of bright reds and pinks before scampering to keep up with Jasper as they arrived at the empty hall. Jasper grumbled as he turned to the box and went shuffling through it, leaving Hendrik to awkwardly hold it as he did so, “I cannot believe we got roped into castle chores…”

“It's better than being swept beneath the maid's feet. That’s never fun.”

Jasper groaned at the thought and carefully started hanging up the paper hearts, standing on his tippy-toes to do so, “I cannot believe how often they simply shove us aside. We are knights too! Being stuck with all this childish work isn’t fair.”

Hendrik set the box of decorations down with a thud, “Agreed. We wouldn't have earned our tokens of fealty if His Majesty thought otherwise. Speaking of that, did you get the go-ahead on going to Sniflhiem to study?”

“Yes, I did, actually.” Jasper was quick to reply, never taking his eyes away from his decorating, “What about you? Are you really going to train under Don Rodrigo? I’ve heard Puerto Valor has some rather tough training you’ll have to endure.”

Hendrik puffed his chest out with pride, “Yes! Although, King Carnelian said I am not quite old enough yet… Still awhile to go before I can start.”

“He said the same thing about my scholarship.”

“Regardless, I have heard Don Rodrigo has ‘great interest’ in me. That’s a good sign, right?” The taller boy beamed as he looked to the decorations, his hand curling around a cardboard tube, hoisting it in the air as if he was unsheathing a blade, “I mean, I shouldn’t be surprised. How could he not wish to train one of Heliodor’s future finest knights?”

Jasper quirked his brow as he finally turned to look at his friend, Hendrik pointing the cardboard tube at him like he was challenging him to a duel. The blond couldn’t help but laugh, covering his mouth with his hand as Hendrik continued. “It must be a great honor for anyone to have us in their presence! Just think of it, Jasper! To have claimed that they helped mold us into Heliodor’s greatest heroes.”

Jasper tipped his head, snickering, “And what makes you so sure that's how things will play out?”

“How could it not? You and I could make the finest knights Erdrea has ever seen it, I am sure of it. With my brawn and your brains, our prowess will be unstoppable! It is our grand Destiny!”

The blond couldn’t hide his amusement, fingers curling around the end of the tube as he took it from the boy, barely mustering his chuckle as he bonked Hendrik over the head with it, “Though I do not know what the future holds, I can tell you one thing for sure. If you go about Puerto Valor prattling on about your grand destiny, you’ll be eaten alive.”

Though Jasper’s words could seem condescending, Hendrik took them in stride, giggling even as he was struck by the cardboard, “Maybe you’re right on that fact but I should have you know I am quite confident… It is a shame though, that we must wait so long until we can at last start the next step to knighthood.”

Jasper put the cardboard away and back into the box, resuming to his post by the wall, continuing the process of hanging up the paper hearts, “I would much rather be occupied with my studies than stand here hanging up lovey-dovey hearts. Getting stuck with Valentine's chores is the worst.”

Quiet fell over the young boys as Hendrik came to help Jasper with the decorating, looking at the red heart in his fingertips as he scooped it from the box. His thumb grazed over the surface of it, pressing his tongue to the inside of his cheek, “Say, Jasper? Do you believe in it?”

The blond paused, golden eyes turning to match Hendrik’s turquoise, “Believe in what? Valentines?”

“No.” Hendrik never broke Jasper’s gaze, fingers curling into the heart in his hands before he offered it to the other boy, “Love.”

The shorter frowned as he took the heart, eyeing the creases in it from Hendrik’s grasp before taking it so he could hang it up just like the others. Jasper thought for a moment before he answered, the moments feeling like forever, “Do I believe in love? Hm… No, not particularly. Though, I do not think I would be upset if I ever were to be proven wrong.”

Hendrik felt his chest flutter when their hands brushed together during the handoff, the feeling nearly leaving him dazed as it lingered, his belly filled with butterflies as Jasper’s eyes brimmed with their own childish curiosity, “How about you, Hendrik? Do you believe in it?”

He knew his answer, he had always known, but now his words were backed by the way his cheeks flushed just from Jasper’s curious and youthful smile, “I like to think that the world is not as cruel and hard as it seems. That there are soft and warm things like love hidden amongst the shadows if you just know where to look.”

Jasper pursed his lips in thought at that, pushing a thumbtack into the heart as he hung it up, “You certainly have more hope in it than I do. Though, I think you are the only person in the world who could say something as cheesy as that and make it sound so true. Maybe you’re right. I’d like to think you are.”

A soft silence fell again as they resumed their task, getting back to the work of decorating, Hendrik busying himself with pulling things out of the box and handing them to Jasper, finding the butterflies in his gut persistent. Every brush of their fingertips, every fleeting moment of eye contact, it only made the warmth in his cheeks hotter, especially when Jasper filled the castle halls with his soft humming, Hendrik was more sure than ever of his perception of love. Sweetness lurked everywhere if you knew where to look and Hendrik was sure he had found it. Sweetness in the sourest boy he knew. Hendrik liked to think he could prove Jasper wrong one day. To show him the love that he had such little hope in. 

**Author's Note:**

> I actually wrote much more than this but ah, I didn't like it so i'm not confident uploading it right now ahah... maybe one day here soon you all will get to know what happened after this. A to be continued, maybe? hehe.... sorry it ended up so short


End file.
